Amazon Alexa and Google Home have been fighting for dominance in the smart assistant market, mostly in English-speaking countries. For Asian countries, there is still not a virtual assistant that speak their languages.

Smart home service provider Comcast recently closed the deal to acquire Icontrol Networks and meanwhile, announced it will establish an IoT Center of Excellence in Austin, Texas, where Icontrol is based.

Morley Glass & Glazing, manufacturer of Uni-blinds integral blinds, announced it has developed an interface called SmartMotion that can help installers incorporate motorized blinds into home automation systems more easily.

Smart thermostat Ecobee3 (Product Introduction: Ecobee3 Smart Thermostat) has added support to Apple HomeKit with its latest firmware update. With the support to the platform, users can now control their Ecobee3 remote sensors via Apple's mobile devices.